some days, like yesterday, boo is the mischievous side of snips and snails and puppy dog tails.
today, he is the heartmelting side of it.
- he slept in until 7:15a (which he never does ... probably did today because he woke up yesterday at 5:30a)
- he shared trains with other little boys at the indoor playground ("the pretend playground" in vernon hills), and even gave another boy a turn at his favorite engine
- he shared his snacks with his 2 girl friends who wanted to sit next to him at lunch, and even offered his favorites (pretzels, crispix, and o's) to them
- he ate some lunch peacefully without me sitting right next to him
- he desisted from insisting on ketchup when he saw the bottle after only 1 comment from me
- his new favorite song, the one he wants to play over and over and over again, is one of my absolute favorites ("my confession" from josh groban - he asks, "mommy, please play confession again.")
how did i get so lucky?
although now, even as i write this post, he is refusing to nap ...
easter festivities started a day early, since DH has to work tomorrow. after i returned from spin class, we dyed a few eggs, which boo really got into -->
DH helped me bake sandwich bread from scratch. it rose a lot when i first made it yesterday, but didn't rise as much in the oven as the other breads that i've made. anyways, it still made a delicious grilled cheese sandwich (with the smoked gouda left over from the cheese plate i brought to the neighborhood ladies night a couple of days ago).
after he woke up from his nap, we decorated the eggs with stickers, and then i "hid" them (and about a dozen plastic eggs) in the basement. he really got into looking for them. and transferring them into his truck. and putting them on his new lincoln log catapult.
we thought it was spring ... till it snowed a foot! boo hated the snow, he couldn't walk around. it didn't help that he's probably grown an inch in the last few months and his snow suit now rides up on his legs, so instead of hitting his ankles it now exposes leg between the cuff and his boot. the snow in the backyard comes up to my knees, easily a couple of feet (all in the last day!), so it's easy to see why he might not like it. he eventually warmed up when we put him to work shovelling the deck. most of all, he loved it when DH ran with him around the yard chasing dixie.
as all little boys, he loves to watch the snowblowers. he pulled a chair up to the window to watch his daddy this morning:
we have been working on a kinder, gentler tone of voice (in place of the high pitched high decibel toddler whine). i think it might be starting to sink in a little. our modus operandi during bedtime and when he has a bad nightmare is to for me to lie down on the floor next to his bed for a minute after he settles down to make sure that he really is calming down, before we leave the room. he had a nightmare this evening and after i got up to go, he said in a quiet oh-so-sweet voice, "a little longer please mommy?"
snow snow and more snow! i can't even open the front door now because the snow is up to my knees. happy vernal equinox indeed. it was so windy and snowy this morning i decided to forgo heading out to spin class. instead, we played on the keyboard. after a little bit of playing random keys, he let me practice a bit - i'm working on mozart's variations on 'twinkle twinkle little star' (the fancy name is "ah! Vous-dirai-je, maman" K265) - and he would sing along in his on rhythm and rate :)
then we watched "ni hao, kai-lan", nickelodeon's new preschool cartoon - it's kind of like a chinese dora. evan loves it! he laughed throughout and was spellbound. good for me, too - learned the chinese for red and green. definitely tivo-ing this one.
dixie always barks at evan as he runs circles around the house. so today i put her leash on and we all ran after evan. good times. at one point i put the leash down to cook or something, and he picked it up and tried to run with her. she was not very willing to follow him :)
grandma sent a card for evan: 3 golden retriever puppies, singing a little song: "Thought that love was only in true in fairy tales ... Then I saw your face ... Now I'm a retriever." evan loves it! it's a parody of evan's favorite song ("I'm a believer" by smashmouth - of shrek fame). he says "it's not a trace!" [that's his name for the song - it's the second line of the chorus] and puts the card on his head and plays peekaboo.
hectic week! went to my brother's house to help them move this week. they now live within 5 minutes of every store chain on the planet. i kid you not. name a chain, and there is a 9 out of 10 chance there is one in his zip code. the house itself is great too! lots of space. i helped pack, unpack, move a bit, and watch the kids. i was impressed with the movers they hired - it was a japanese company, and they were on time, efficient, and even took their shoes off before entering the house, even with heavy boxes in hand!
it's so great to see boo finally old enough to play with his older cousin. here they are at the park across the street from his cousin's new house.
last week we also got to see les miz at a north suburban theater. incredible!! the theater was really small - 360degrees around a small stage; as an illustration of how small the theater was, we were the second to last row - in row H. the actors/singers were fabulous and really high caliber. for example, the actor/singer who played jean valjean is the first and only actor to play both jean valjean and the phantom on broadway! my favorite was the confrontation song between valjean and javert. stunning performance, and what a deal - because it was a weekday performance, we had a 3 course dinner (at a restaurant with $30 entrees) and a show for only $55 each! i would have been satisfied had i paid 3-4x that amount and travelled down to the city for it.
today was our "date day" without boo ... but i spent the first few hours in an urgent care addressing a little accident between my knuckle and a cheese grater. yesterday i was making my favorite recipe for stuffed peppers, and the smoked mozzarella braid was a bit slippery. ugh!!! this morning it was swollen, red, warm, and painful with any movement. it being my right index finger, i decided that caution was better than pride and went to the ER for some antibiotics and a good cleanout. as you might imagine, i'm typing a bit more slowly than usual.
so instead of heading down to chicago, we opted for the easier route to milwaukee to check out the fabulous architecture of the art museum: 
(photos from the public milwaukee sites)
salvatore calatrava
is the architect of this arresting monument to movement and light. at noon the sail "flaps" down and back up very slowly. i think this is my all time favorite building.
the artist that i first loved - indeed, the artist that first awakened a love for art in me - was georgia o'keeffe. she was born in wisconsin, and thanks to a local collector the milwaukee art museum has one of the largest collections of her paintings. highlights:
they also have an impressive collection of the german expressionists. gabrielle munter was one of this collector's favorites. you might recognize the name of her more famous lover - wassily kandinsky.
here is a picasso that i haven't seen before, "the cock of liberation." painted just after the first world war, it supposedly represents the awakening of hope, with the rooster of france crowing next to the dove of peace.
experimenting with posting videos ... here are some of boo's live shots this week:
sous chef
latest favorite activity: running in small circles
i taught boo that if he needs to get by me (like when i'm blocking his route around the train table), he needs to give me a kiss and say "excuse me mommy!" if he wants a ride down the stairs, he also needs to give me a kiss. it is the cutest thing ever. i'm soaking up the kisses while i can.
i started making bread from scratch! saw a review of "artisan bread in 5 minutes a day" in the tribune and bought the book. no kneading required! it's not quite 5 minutes but it is really easy. i mix a big batch in the morning, which probably takes 5 minutes, let it rise for a few hours, then stick it in the fridge. when i'm ready to bake, i break off a grapefruit size chunk, stretch it a bit, let rise another half hour or so, and bake! voila! it's actually pretty good. with one batch i have 3-4 loaves, and it keeps for 2 weeks in the fridge. boo really likes it. if only i could sneak vegetables in it ...
speaking of which, my other culinary experiments of late have involved sneaking fruits/vegetables into food that evan eats, thanks to the "sneaky chef." this is the book that came out before jessica simpson's book of the same idea. the key is pureeing the vegetables and putting them into like-colored foods. so far i've made:
- mac and cheese (thumbs up): with cauliflower and zucchini; have also added carrots/yams and white beans
- chocolate chip cookies (another thumbs up): with white beans, wheat germ, oats
- brainy brownies (so so): spinach and blueberries (which is hands down the most disgusting mix i have ever made), wheat germ
- health-by-chocolate cookies (so so, a bit better than the brownies): spinach, blueberries, wheat germ
- nacho cheese dip (melted american cheese with carrots/yams) - so so
- spaghetti-o boost: carrots and yams
yes, i know this is not shaping ideal food habits. but i'm telling you, boo will not touch anything with color in it. he's on a self-imposed white toddler diet: milk, yogurt, crackers, rice, white bread, pancakes, pasta, bananas, apples if i'm lucky, and just recently i got him to eat chicken nuggets (but only if dinosaur shaped). this kid gets offered everything from broccoli to sushi rolls, and nothing piques his interest unless it is cracker-like.
